Karen’s K-100 Experience, Part 1

Friday night my husband and I were privileged to attend my son’s Grade 9 farewell dinner. It was exciting to see him and his classmates all dressed up for the occasion, and we were all happy to mark this milestone in his education. This doesn’t have much to do with the K-100 race, but it was an important part of my weekend. I just had to share it with you.

As soon as I got home from the dinner, I started packing up to head out to the mountains the next day. The Blue Paper Clip Team was already gathering in Longview, as our first runner would start her K-100 relay leg there at the 6:00 a.m. early start the next morning. I wasn’t slated to run until about 12 hours later, so I made sure I got a good night’s sleep and headed out to the mountains on my own time.

I came into the Kananaskis from the north by about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and drove south along the race route, making note of where the relay hand-off points would be setting up later in the day. Even though the check-in tables, etc. weren’t set up yet, there were three portapotties marking each station. Eventually I parked my car at the leg 5 station, and settled in for a brief nap. It was going to be a long day ahead.

As the teams made their way through the mountains, more and more people and cars showed up at the station. I wandered over to the check-in desk and the hand-off lanes, and said hi to some Calgary Roadrunners I know. I found one of our team support vans, all decked out with Blue Paper Clip flags, and introduced myself to the team. I’d only met two of the members before. Everyone seemed relieved to meet me and referred to me as “our lost team mate”. I guess there had been some anxiety about where and when I might show up.

Once our runners handed off at Station 5 sometime after 10 a.m., I went back to my car, ate some of my peanut butter & nutella sandwich, a couple of strawberries and a brownie. I saved the rest for later. I’d need something before my 12 km run at suppertime. I drove past the leg 6 station – it was a very crowded scene by then – and settled in at leg 7 to repeat the rest-and-watch-the-crowd-build fun all over again.